The Murder of Billy Lee Black: Danielle Black and Alec Scott Eger

On November 8, 2008, 15-year-old Danielle Renee Black’s MySpace page — screen name psychogirl1993 — sported the following headline: “~R.I.P~I love u dad!!~We will miss u!~” Beside Danielle’s profile photo was this quote: “wats there 2 say??…my heart is broken from so many guys….my father is gone….i need help from my ppl…my real ppl…u kno who u r….there is only 3 of u….but only 2 r here now….”

Danielle was referring to the murder of her father, Billy Lee Black, age 47. Black was found brutally stabbed to death on October 31, 2008. He’d been attacked in the early morning hours beside the work truck he parked behind his family’s row house in Hagerstown, Maryland.

Danielle’s friend Alec Scott Eger, age 19, was Alec Scott Draven and 911r3ap3r911 (911reaper911 for those who can’t read leet speak) on MySpace.com.

Prior to December, 2008, Alec’s “About me” was a lengthy, pseudo-Nietzschean screed about how to live your life. An interesting quote from the end of Alec’s little lecture, spelling and punctuation mistakes intact:

The only thing left is the need for vengeance against those who cause pain, sorrow.People get away with things they should never have done yet no one punishes them. Killers, child molesters, rapists, wife beaters, etc. So the question I ask is this. Is it wrong to extract vengeance on those who deserve it, in defense and revenge for those who cannot protect themselfs. Because in this world of unjust ignorance you are the only one who will stand up for the those who need help.

Emphasis was added.

On Wednesday, December 10, Danielle Black was arrested in Hagerstown and charged with solicitation of first-degree murder. Alec Scott Eger was also taken into custody. Eger was charged with first-degree murder.

Police believe Danielle Black approached another male prior to her father’s murder and asked him to kill Billy Lee Black. Danielle allegedly told her friend that her father would be entering the truck he used for work around 5 in the morning. The teen said he wouldn’t get anything out of it and refused.

But court papers referenced by the Washington Post indicate that Alec Scott Eger held the unsupported belief that his friend Danielle was being abused by her father. Eger decided to do something about it.

The assistant state’s attorney for Washington County, MD told the Post that the only problem Billy Lee Black really had was “with his daughter and her group of friends.” Dunlap believes that Danielle and Alec were members of a goth “crew,” and that they were into “sucking each other’s blood, cutting each other.”

Charging documents cited by the Post state that Alec Eger has confessed to killing Billy Lee Black. He approached Black that Halloween morning intending to confront the older man about the alleged abuse. They struggled, and Black managed to wrest a knife from Alec’s hands. But Alec (who gave his height as 6’5″ on his MySpace page), had another knife and he used that weapon to repeatedly stab Billy Lee Black about the head and neck.

Alec took some money from the dead man’s wallet. As he fled the scene he threw his weapon, the wallet and bloody clothing in a dumpster.

As often happens in cases like this, Alec Eger’s MySpace page has been changed since his arrest. Images of marijuana leaves and the Nietzschean screed have been deleted and the following message has been posted on his profile:

For those who may not already know, Alec has gotten into some serious trouble in Hagerstown, MD while trying to help a young women who he beleived needed his help. If anyone has any information regarding this situation, please contact Jerry Joyce at the Hagerstown Public Defender’s Office at 301-791-4735.

Until she was detained by Hagerstown authorities on Wednesday, Danielle Black was updating her page on a regular basis…

Previously her self-description had been a rambling mini-bio written in
capital letters filled with shout-outs to friends and her longing for a
boyfriend. A portion of Danielle’s “About me” from her profile as it
appeared on November 8:

I PRETTY MUCH LOVE TO GO ANY
WHERE AS LONG AS I’M WITH MY FRIENDS OR MY FAMILY. MY FRIENDS CONSIDER
ME A STONER. I EVEN HAD A COUPLE PPL CALL ME AN ALCOHOLIC.LOL.DONT
UNDERSTAND THAT, BUT OK. ANYWAY I HAVE AN OLDER BROTHER NAMED
JUSTIN.HE’S 20 AND HAS A NICE CAR. I AM SINGLE. IM LOOKING 4 A GREAT,
GOOD-LOOKING GUY. ITS FINE WITH ME IF HE IS A SMOKER AND/OR A DRINKER
AND ITS OK IF HE DOES DRUGS. I JUST WANT SOME1 THAT WILL TREAT ME WIT
RESPECT…

Later in the same section, Danielle was
expressing her affection for a friend named Rachel and she listed
several other people to whom she felt especially close:

I LOVE U LIKE U R MY SISTER. HELL WE CALL EACH OTHER
SISTERS. I DONT KNO WHAT I COULD POSSIBLY EVER DO WITHOUT U. WE HAVE
KNOWN EACH OTHER SINCE WE WERE LIKE 2. SO PRACTICALLY U R MY SISTER. WE
ALWAYS GET OUR ASSES IN TROUBLE 1 WAY OR ANOTHER. IT DONT MATTER WHAT
WE R DOING WE ALWAYS GET BLAMED 4 EVERYTHING. WELL AS LONG AS WE R
2GETHER WE DONT GIVE A DAMN BOUT WHAT WE GET YELLED AT 4. OR BEING PUT
IN JAIL, WHICH WILL WHIND UP HAPPENING 1 OF THESE DAYS SOON. WELL I
LOVES U SISSY. MEAGAN WE HAVE KNOWN EACH OTHER FOR OVER A YEAR, AND WE
ONLY KEEP GETTING CLOSER. I MEAN I CAN GO 2 U BOUT EVERYTHING.
ESPECIALLY THAT 1 THING THAT I KNO U DID CUZ DANIELLE TOLD ME U DID. I
LOVE HANGING OUT WITH U, UR BROTHER, JUSTIN, T.A.K., MATT, SEAN, JOEY,
BRENT, AND ZACK. UR HOUSE IS LIKE MY 2ND HOME. U HELP ME OUT SO MUCH.
AND I LOVES U 4 THAT. PLUS U, MY SISTER RACHEL, ALEC, MATT, DANIELLE
AND T.A.K. ARE THE ONLY PPL I TRUST NE MORE.

Again, I added emphasis to one name in the quote.

By December 9 the same section was a little more tame:

my name is danielle renee black. i live wit my
mother in hagerstown maryland. i have an older brother named justin.
hes 20 years old. i go 2 williamsport high but i use 2 go 2 south. i
used 2 live with my father until he was killed on halloween of this
’08. i great friends nd a wonderful boyfriend. my boyfriends name is
jj. hes 16, got a rockin body nd hes kinda pyscho but i guess i love
him ne ways…

Danielle also wrote a number of entries in her MySpace weblog. Danielle
made an interesting post in March this year in which she quoted the
lyrics to the song “Warped and Twisted” by a group called Bandaid:

Another post made in March addressed depression and suicide, sometimes in an open, frank manner. Danielle wrote:

I bet at least three fourths of amercians don’t know
that everyday people try to kill themselves because of depression. Not
everyone has a perfect life like people think. Most suicidal attempts
are attempted by teens. Most teens that attempt suicide say that they
did it because they were trying to escape from a situation that seemed
impossible to deal with or get relief from really bad thoughts or
feelings...

The entry appeared to have been partially copied from other sources. Later in the same post, Danielle’s voice seemed to re-emerge:

Most people dont understand this, but i do.
If anyone feels like this relates to them, I am here to let you know
you can talk to me. I will listen and will not judge because i went
through depression and am still some what goin through it, but it is
not as severe as what it was. So i understand a lot. Please come talk
to me before you think about killing yourself. I’m here 2 help save
lives like someone saved mine.

I started crime blogging in late 2004 after happening on to the story of Rachelle Waterman, an Alaskan teen who was accused of masterminding the murder of her mother. Then as now the question arose: did the teen girl in question really intend for someone to murder her parent? Since the state ultimately dropped all charges against Waterman but two older men with whom she was romantically involved were imprisoned for the crime, the question has never truly been answered in her case. It could be that the men who killed Rachelle’s mother only believed they were doing what the girl really wanted, no matter what she said. Waterman may have been another teen drama queen who happened to fall in with a couple of sociopaths, and she may not have realized how seriously they would take her hyperbolic complaints about the way her mother treated her.

To be sure, allegations that Danielle Black was actively seeking someone to kill her father are just that — allegations. So far, court records only show that Alec Eger has confessed to the act.

With Danielle now facing charges of soliciting the crime, I feel fairly certain the same questions that came up during the trial of Rachelle Waterman will come up again with the teens currently sitting in lockup in Hagerstown, MD — just how serious was Danielle Black when she approached the other teen? And did she ask Alec Eger to commit the crime, or did he ultimately just decided it was something he had to do?Links: